Lunch Bags

First day of school is quickly approaching and we have been taking car of all the odds and ends of school prep. This was the backpack that  Bear picked out this year. For the life of us we could not find a lunch bag to go with it. She wanted something that matched. After searching all over we still could not find one. So I decided to make one. 

It turned out so cute! And she loves it! 

Matches? Yep, I think so. Now we are good to go. 

Chinese Birthday Party

This year for Bear's birthday she wanted to have a Chinese Party. She loves Chinese food and so we came up with the idea of a Chinese Luncheon.

Here was the invitation. 

 

 I wasn't sure what to do about the banner but then I thought about maybe some Chinese lanterns.

Here are a few more decorations  

I forgot to mention it was kind of a "Christian" Chinese Luncheon. Instead of words like tranquility, prosperity and so forth I decided to do the fruits of the spirit. These were hung up everywhere.

The lanterns I actually bought online. The pom poms I made with fabric and dollar store balls.

The table scape. 

All I did was decorate the table with the favors that the girls were going home with.

The Cake.

Bear wore a qaipo dress on that we got in Chinatown. Actually we got a few things from Chinatown. It was super cheap.  

Now for the outside 

This was the most exciting part. Let me break it down. Looks expensive but was really cheap to put this together. The tent is just a tent that we borrowed and hung a bunch of fabric that was also borrowed. 

The pillows were all pillows I had around the house but I sewed slipcovers for them from a sheet I got at the thrift store for $1.50. I did buy Bear's pillow fabric and then made some roses to go around it. 

Luckily Joann's was having a big sale on their spring flowers for 75% off so those were all super duper cheap. Again I hung the fruits of the spirits up on the branches.  

 The place settings were just paper plates and paper napkins from the party store. The chopsticks and tea cups were from Chinatown. I think all of them totalled $5. The "bamboo" place mats were just one of those beach mats I got from the thrift store for $1. It made just the right amount to. I lined the back of it with some fabric I had and then cut them to the size I wanted. 

Each girl got a special place setting with their name in Chinese.

On the menu which  my friend's mom made was Fried Rice & Chow Mien. We also had Egg Rolls, Pot Stickers & Orange Chicken from Costco.

After the girls ate we did an origami craft. I found a pretty flower that the girls got to make.   

The finished flower. 

When the guest were leaving they each got a simple favor.  

Inside was some fortune cookies that I had put bible verses on. Then i dipped them in pink chocolate to make them look extra special. 

Rose Smash Cake

My friend  little girl was turning 1 and she asked me to make her smash cake. She was having a "Pretty In Pink" party. This is what the cake looked like. The picture did not turn out so well. In fact it looks pretty sad but baby "A" loved it.

Mermaid Cake

As you all know I love to make cakes. This one I made right after we got back from camping. My friend's  daughter had sketched a picture of what she wanted for her cake and I tried to do my best. This is almost the final product. Minus the mermaid on top. The cake was a big hit and I was so glad she loved it. 

The Big Reveal

I am finally getting around to writing about my room makeover. My Love and the boys went to the Father and son retreat that our church does and while he was gone I decided to makeover our room. I recruited my bear, my sis-n-law and my bro-n-law to help with painting and hardware stuff.

We have lived in this house for 8 years and never done anything with it.

I wish I would have taken some before and after pics but nope I forgot. Although I did find a few random pics that had our room in them.

This is what the room looked like when we first moved in.

And now this is our room! I love it and so does my love! 

The bedspread is handmade. I really wanted the Anthropologie rosette bedding but it was going to cost me around $400. Sooo I decided to make a mock bedspread. Mine? Well, it was a $56. Yes, I will brag about that. ;)

I didn't get a great shot of the curtains but aren't they so cute? I could find anything I liked but then I saw these table cloths at Target and fell in love with them. I know they would be perfect so I made them into curtains.

 I used the shams from my last bedspread and made some pillows from some fabric that I liked. The yellow pillow is actually an old place mat that I had but it matched the curtains perfectly that I decided to convert it into a pillow. I just made a flower for it and wa-la!

The frames are all frames I had or bought at a thrift store or given to me. I also found the letters at the craft store on clearance for $1! I love that our room is all about me and my love. Even the pictures are only us. Its our little romantic haven. No kids or kid pictures allowed. Okay they can come in our room but that's it. Hey, its the only room in the house thats just us. Thats fair right?

I bought some molding and my bro-n-law framed it for our bathroom mirror. My sis-n-law being the electrician that she is changed out our ugly 1982 light fixture.

I spray painted this stuff. I wanted to create some wall art so I just put some scrap paper in these frames.

I saw some cute Anthropoligie vases that I loved. They had flowers attached to them. I tried to recreate them with these thrift store vases. I saw an idea (on pinterest of course) of adding paint to clear vases. It worked great. I then just made a silk flower with silk and fire and glued it to the vase.

This is my favorite part of the room. I love this verse because it reminds me of my hubby. Its exactly how I feel about my love. He made a plaque for me so that I could put this verse in it. I love the way the plaque came out. It was a little smaller than I thought it was going to be so I just painted a frame around it. Perfect!

Lola painted our old lamps for me so that they would match our room.

And that's it! Finally it's done. Its so nice not having our room be the eye sore in our house anymore.

T-Ball Banner

I'm really new to all this T-Ball stuff. I found out very early on that each team was to make or buy a banner for their team. The banner would then be shown at Opening day where we would be competing with all the other banners.

 I didn't have a clue on what to do. And apparently when you google Team Banners well, not much comes up. I began freaking out a tiny bit. At first I didn't care about the competition. I just didn't want to embarrass our team. But after really starting to put a lot of thought into this I was really wanting to win.

And guess what?!? WE WON!! We were all so excited! We won $100 towards our team party. Awesome prize!

Here is the banner that I made.

Teacher Appreciation

I have tried to do something special for the teachers every year when teacher appreciation week comes. This year I decided to make each teacher their very own appreciation cake. This is what they ended up looking like.

I went to Nancy's Fancy's and bought some mini cake boxes

And added a tag that said "You take the Cake!" Each teacher really loved them and especially loved the yummy cake inside.  

The best part about this gift is that it only cost me $2.50 total for all 3! Now that's a deal!